Over the past few years, Americans have come to realize that Congress is an institution characterized by gridlock, unresponsiveness to constituent concerns and a lack of accountability. Recent polls show that Congress as a whole is even less popular than President Bill Clinton.

Here at Harvard, we have a government of our own for those of you who are new to the College, our government is known as the Undergraduate Council. Like Congress, the council doesn't seem to care much about what students want. Like Congress, the council doesn't get much done, often because it is mired in scandal. And like Congress, the council is in dire need of reform.

But while some members of Congress have recently been successful in enacting reforms--take for example, Rep. Bill Andrew's bill to prevent House committees from delaying floor votes on bills indefinitely--the only changes in the Undergraduate Council have been for the worse.

Late last year, for example, the council decided to raise by 50 percent the amount it taxes students, to $30. This tax, the council fee, is levied at the beginning of each year on student term bills.

Crimson polls conducted last spring made clear that an overwhelming majority of students--realizing that the council should not be given more money when it does so little with what it has--opposed the fee increase. But, alas, this did not deter the council from passing the tax hike.

The disgust students feel towards the tax is fully justified since most students benefit so little from council spending. Indeed, a Crimson poll found that 45.7 percent of students could not even name two activities sponsored by the council.

Like Congress, the council seems to be effective at just one thing; wasting money. And because it is so good at this, it craves more money to burn.

Another proposed "reform" was the council's attempt to make it more difficult for students to get refunds of their "contribution." Students can currently obtain a refund of most of their contribution by checking off a box on their term bill. But following in the effort to bring the red tape of Washington to Harvard, the council to created a bureaucracy of its own for distributing refunds.

Allowing students the simple option of checking off a box on the term bill was just too simple for the council. Instead, our representatives voted to require all students to navigate through a maze of bureaucracies; the Undergraduate Council, the Term Will office, and the Dean of Students' office. In the words of Vice-President Joshua D. Liston '96, this circuitous refund process was designed solely to make it more difficult" for students to reclaim their dollars.

The final result, as one may have guessed, is that getting a refund has recently become virtually impossible. In fact; council contributions have been as "voluntary" as social security contributions.

After the council voted to increase the council fee and eliminate the option of getting refund on the term bill, students, decided that enough was enough. It was time to stop the madness. Anjalee Davis '96 and many other students across the campus organized a petition drive to hold a referendum on repealing these, and other, council votes.

At first, the council announced that it would indeed follow the mandates of its Constitution and hold a referendum if the petition gathered the requisite number of signatures.

But after over a thousand students signed the petition (almost double the number needed for a referendum), council President Carey Gabay 94 unilaterally ruled four out of five questions "out of order." Gabay did not seem to care about what students wanted. Over a thousand students had expressed their desire for reform by signing the petition, but Gaby insisted on using tricks to prevent a vote on must of the proposals.

Gabay's attempt to quash the referendum failed. Students created a new petition, which Gabay had no choice but to accept. But not without a fight.

Just as Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-Wash.) had the audacity to use funds collected from the taxpaying citizens of his home state to wage a legal war he himself initiated against the majority of Washington citizens who had voted to install term limits, the council decided to use students' fees to campaign against the initiative started by the students themselves.

When asked about their unresponsiveness, council members defended themselves by asserting it was ridiculous that students be allowed input on issues of "internal management." In other words, the council is the council and should be able to do whatever it pleases.